The present invention is directed to a foam overlay or mattress for supporting a human body. The foam support or pad provides a support surface that can accommodate the different support required by different segments of the body. The support or pad is designed to control the posture of the user and the interface pressures that are generated while lying on the pad.
Mattresses are important tools for use in preventing pressure sores and pressure-induced soft tissue damage, maintaining proper body alignment for comfort, minimizing peak pressures, and controlling the pressure gradients across the skin. Various types of foam rubber or rubber-like materials, either synthetic or natural occurring materials, have been used in the past in which the geometry and/or density of the foam was varied in order to properly support a body.
The present invention is directed to a foam support having a top layer with a smooth surface, a bottom layer and an intermediate layer that provides a variable support characteristic. The normal load-deformation characteristic of the intermediate foam is layer modified to produce regions that deform through a controlled distance with only a slight increase in load, other regions that deform less to provide greater support, and other regions providing still greater support to prevent the user from bottoming out. Thus, the present invention provides a foam support to obtain a better reaction to the support surface, better enhances the foam is pressure reduction performance and provides lower interface pressures because of its construction.